I have finally finished the first alpha edition of the Epik Space Rulebook. When I say 'Alpha' I mean the rule set fully works, but isn't fully tested, balanced or optimised, some things will change between this and the Beta. It is also incredibly rough around the edges, with many sections written just to get the mechanics down, and many little 'authours remarks' around the place, a lot of expamples I wanted to add are missing, and I have a backlog of pictures to get through, I am however releasing it in this state, as it is the important for the upcoming Bavarian story-arc, with the possibility of this rule set being used for a silly big battle, and I do mean silly big.

So what makes Epik-Space different? Well it's LDD optimised, scale optimised, and forum battle optimised. It is also designed to be as 'balanced' as possible within classes, meaning most of the constant 1-up-man-ship that happens constantly, is mostly negated, while still leaving some tactical flavour. there isn't however yet any points or easy way to balance between different players groups.

I am posting to ask for feedback less on the mechanics (but if you notice any loopholes, please do shout), but on balance, and also on the writing, what does and doesn't make sense and what needs to be rewritten. As I wrote it all, all of it makes sense to me, as I subconsciously substitute in what I meant to say, so help with that would be appreciated.

What I Do Not want help on is:"Why haven't you got rules for this" - As either balance, or to streamline, or as I will add them later (see the empty sections)"I don't like this mechanic as it gives me fewer options" - Making the game optimised for the 3 factors mentioned is more important, trust me, I do like options normally"But according to my canon..." STOP RIGHT THERE. I don't care about your canon, or what you think your ship is capable of, if you can't do it within the confines of these rules, then save it for a special objective, or simply don't use it.

A couple thoughts:--Giving weapons unlimited range discourages movement. In general I think it's a poor idea. The range bands help a little but I feel like they add more complexity than a set range limit would.

--I like the dice pool idea, it should make combat go quickly.

--I think an easy way to balance the ship designs would be to split each class into hull types, as in EVE. I actually used this in an older version of my microspace rule set. So, for instance, capital hulls could be split into interceptor (bonus to movement, penalty to armor/hitpoints) assault (More weapons slots, penalty to movement) or EWAR/logistic (more special ability slots, penalty to weapon slots) types.

I am currently after feedback primarily on the only 'feature complete' chapter, 4 - Fleet Structure & Management, firstly on how well the two worked examples (blue text) work to explain the concepts. Chapter 1 is also for the chopping block to be integrated into chapter 2, unless anyone can think of a better use for it.

Also, Once chapter 6 is completed, I plan to host battles in chat, while streaming the LDD program live. I will be announcing here a day or so beforehand, but if you would be interested in taking part, do have a fleet ready and available on the old wiki.

The ships look too good not to use somewhere. I figured these are some of the few Gamma Corps left, still defending some long forgotten outpost somewhere, this Brittanian ship was leading a mission to eradicate them for the Immortals, but their will to survive was sorely underestimated.

--The entire squadron, including the escorts(?), rolls against the remaining total damage.

--Escorts roll survivability(?) again to destroy the enemy fighters.

You should explain all of this in one place, so that the player can get a complete Overwatch of what happens in the combat phase and in what order, instead of having to scroll down to interdiction and then even further down to fighter interdiction.

It's also not clear how dogfighting works. Each fighter deals fixed damage, but does that damage automatically kill the enemy fighters? Does each fighter have 1 survivability? Fighters having the same survivability as an escort is kind of weird.

AoE doomsday seems every bit as OP as in EVE, but I'm not sure about the scale of your battles. If 30 units is a 'short' distance, it might be okay.

I've been looking at this for a while, and find it very promising, but it has one problem. Guns make no sense. Having two tier teo railguns is the same as having one tier two. also hits are guaruanteed. Two changes I'd suggest, is intruducing misses, with either an accuracy or a agility roll, and a redo of the weapons to make them easier to fit. This is what i thought up:power grid requirements are one fourth of the normal.

----------------------4"-10"------------8"-12"------------10"-16"-------6"-14"--------------------0"-3"---- These shouldn't be inches, I knowSystem type:---Short ranged---Medium ranged---Long ranged---All'round---Indirect---interception---Hangar---Double HP---Double Speed---(Double Agility/Accuracy)Power/1dmg:---------3-------------------4------------------5-------------6-----------1-----------8/1d6---------20----------Half the total-------------------Half the total

This is not playtested, and is just a suggestion. I'd like to hear what do you think.

I couldn't come up with anything smart, original or funny, so <=THIS=> is what you get.ENJOY IT!!!